


Moving On

by 10000animefigure



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M, Major plot spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-19 23:45:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10650585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/10000animefigure/pseuds/10000animefigure
Summary: One night Cindy recommneds Prompto create a profile on popular dating website [i]Firaga[/i] in an attempt to help him get over his massive crush for the crown prince.In which Prompto is bad at pickup lines and I take a joke and make it sad.





	Moving On

Prompto’s finger hovers over the app. The fiery heart looks up at him begging for attention. After all he’d been through, a dating app wasn’t where he thought he would be. _Firaga_ ; the number one dating app in Lestallum. _This is stupid._ He could quit right here. Wasn’t downloading the app enough? Wasn’t that proof that he was trying to move on? He wasn’t crying as much now . Wasn’t mourning openly, making everyone in the supermarket uncomfortable. Plus, he had already tried moving on through Cindy. But, she swiftly shut him down.

 

“I’m not going to be your stand in, hon,” she said, not looking up from the engine and wrench she was working with. 

Prompto watched her in silence, unsure of what to say. Cindy seemed like the obvious step after Noctis. Ignis and Gladiolus had paired off after the fall of Lestallum. Iris was more of a little sister to him. Cindy was the last person his age he knew. “Could I at least treat you to dinner?” he asked sheepishly. “N-not as a date! Just friends…” 

Cindy continued working without acknowledging him. He listened to the turning of her wrench. He finally moved towards the door assuming the conversation was over.

“Fine,” she said slamming down the hood of the vehicle, loud enough to make Prompto jump. “You can buy me dinner. But I’m not a replacement for the prince.”

Cindy was the one who suggested the app. Their friendship bloomed in the last days of light. They ate dinner together most nights. They’d talk about the future. On bad days, they’d talk about the past. On days when Prompto took Iris chocobo riding (the only sure fire way to put a smile on her face), she would join them for dinner. 

 

One night they took their dinner in Cindy’s room at the hammerhead. They sat on the floor waiting for their ramen to cook; Prompto’s phone serving as the timer. Cindy’s walls were covered with pictures of musicians and t.v. stars that felt so unimportant in the wake of Noctis’s hibernation in the crystal. 

“Ya know,” Iris said quietly looking up at the pictures of the men on the wall. “I had the biggest crush on the lead singer.” 

The three giggled in response. 

“Oh no! It was all about the bassist for me,” Cindy added pointing at the muscular man standing in the back of the picture.

“Ew, no way.” Iris laughed leaning back on her hands. “He looks too much like Gladio.”

“Face it, Iris. Your brother is hot.” Cindy teased. 

Prompto laughed along with them. It had been a while since he had laughed so freely. Ignis and Gladiolus had isolated themselves, having some unspoken realization that all was fleeting and they need to be honest with each other. They walked out the room of the crystal hand in hand. That night they slept in each other's arms in the tent, leaving Prompto alone on the other side, alone in Noctis's absence. When he heard their breathing even out, he rolled over into Noctis’s spot trying to catch some whiff of his scent, some ghost of his being. He laid in the spot curling in on himself. There was nothing there. 

“Who was your favorite?” Iris asked.

Prompto looked up at the boy band and shook his head. “I didn’t have a crush on any of them.”. 

“Oh don’t be shy,” Cindy prodded. “Everyone our age had a crush on one of the members.”

“Even Gladiolus had a thing for the drummer,” Iris mused. 

Prompto shook his head praying the timer would go off soon, distracting the girls. He was being honest. In high school he only had interests in videogames and photography. And thanks to Lunafreya; Noctis. The shy boy who convinced him to be the best him he could. The first person to really, truly remember him. The crown, chosen prince of the country. 

“C’mon Prompt! Don't be embarrassed”

He shrugged. “I mean they were a good band... I just … only ever had eyes for Noct…”

The room fell silent, the two girls looking at each other then at nothing. The King's Knight theme song rang out from Prompto’s phone signifying their ramen was done. But no one moved.

Prompto’s crush on Noctis was obvious to the naked eye. He had always been a boy who wore his heart on his sleeve. Less obvious was Noct’s reciprocation. Prompto had confessed in the school library, expecting their friendship to end. Noctis has instead laughed nervously, expressing that he felt the same way. In the silence of the room, Prompto remembered the secret dates to the Insomnian Museum, that ended up being just them talking in the parking lot for hours, the hushed giggles during classes, lies told to the king, and stolen kisses behind the school. Prompto remembered nights on the road with Noctis, holding hands in the backseat of the Regalia. He remembered the feeling of relief when he saw Noctus again in Insomnia after he’d been kidnapped. The way Noctis never broke eye contact when Prompto confessed his past. Noctis’s acceptance of who Prompto really was. It was also painfully obvious that Prompto wasn’t going to move past Noctis. He should never have fallen in love in the first place. And he should have ended it when Noctis explained his arranged marriage or when they left to see him married. He should have broke off whatever they had when they left Insomnia the first time, especially after Lunafreya’s death. But when he was kidnapped he still prayed Noctis would save him. And Noctis did. Now Prompto spent the days after the prince's hibernation mourning him instead of preparing for the long nights ahead.

“You need to move on,” Iris said breaking the silence with her small voice. “I loved Noct too, ya know. But he was never ours to love. It wasn’t fair for us to put that on him. We knew nothing would come of that. We knew there was nothing he could do to change that. Luna needed him. The country needed him.”

Silence filled the room once more. Cindy reached for her noodles, removing the lid and stirring the cup with her chopsticks. Iris pulled her knees to her chest. In a single, fluid motion Prompto stood. 

“Cindy, do you or Cid need anything from me before I go?” he asked,

“Prompto you don’t have to leave.” she protested. 

Ignoring her, he looked to Iris, not really at her but through her. “Are you staying here tonight? Do you need an escort home?”

Iris shook her head looking at Cindy. “Cindy is letting me stay.”

Prompto nodded before leaving the girls with their overcooked noodles. Cindy sent him a link to a dating app soon after as a consideration. 

 

Today is the last hour of sunlight, if the pattern continues. And he spends the last hour creating a _Firaga_ profile in an attempt to get a date. He scrolls through his phone camera trying to pick the best one. He chooses one of the four of them in Galdin Quay. He chooses another selfie of him on a chocobo. And the final picture is of him in his crown uniform. The same picture he sent to his parents before he left.

_Prompto Argentum 19 yo Male. Welcome to the gun show. Just a chocobro trying to ride your chocobo ;)_

He giggles erasing the last bit before changing it. 

_Save a chocobo ride this boy *finger guns*_

He laughs out loud quickly screenshotting the page. He pulls up their group chat needing to show his friends the idiotic things he was writing. His moment of mirth shatters when he sees Nocits’s name in the recipients. 

_Noct <3\. _

In the sunlight he’s reminded of mornings when he would wake before the prince and pretend to be asleep instead of going out with Ignis and Gladio (who were already preparing for the day ahead). Feigning sleep for the small moments to take in the sleeping boy; hair tousled, mouth slightly parted. He stifled the urge to touch, to embrace, to place the smallest kiss on his forehead, the smallest “I love you,” spoken in touch. He instead drank in the image of Noctis, painting the back of his eyelids with this moment so every time he blinks he will see Noctis. He will keep the image forever. Hold it close. Keep it safe. Keep himself sane.

He had never expected it to be this way. There was always only two outcomes. He would stand beside Noctis as a friend; watching him and Luna rebuild the new world. Or Prompto would die for the chosen king. He would gladly lay down his life for Noctis. He had nothing to lose. The abandoned orphan raised by negligent parents. Love of animals lead to impossible love, blossoming into a grand adventure with friends. He had never expected to have to figure out how to live without Noctis. A lifetime waiting for the sleeping prince. Dying for Noct had seemed so easy. No one has told him living for Noctis was so hard. 

Prompto erases what he’s already type. 

_Prompto Argentum Age 19 Male Looking for ANY girl to replace the hole left by Prince Noctis._

**Author's Note:**

> It's that time of year again! Where I have so many papers to write I just end up writing fanfics : /  
> Well anyway!! Thank you for reading!! Hope you enjoyed!  
> Any comments or questions or even critiques are welcome.  
> Love you all.


End file.
